The Snows of Windroven by Jeffe Kennedy

Author:Jeffe Kennedy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: christmas, warrior, dragon, sorcery, winter
Publisher: Jeffe Kennedy

~ 9 ~

I must have lost consciousness early on, because I awoke to daylight, not remembering much beyond a haze of burning agony. The spoon was gone, I was untied, and my injured arm lay across my belly, lightly swathed in bandages. It ached, but with a fierce bright pain I actually welcomed. It was the crawling, stretching kind of pain that meant healing had begun.

Thank Glorianna. And Her avatar.

I was hungry, too—another good sign—and the fever had lessened. It still buzzed at the edges, making me feel a little chilled, but my vision had lost that too-acute sharpness. The wind howled outside, but from a direction that didn’t rattle the shutters as much. The white light filtered through the cracks in them, and showed through the glass-sealed clerestory windows that ringed the room near the ceiling. Nothing to see but snowflakes dashing themselves against the glass, like beasts starving to get in, but I frowned at them. I didn’t remember the windows.

The door creaked open, and Ami peeked in. “You’re awake? Are you up for small, tremendously annoying visitors?”

Stella had already stuck her head around Ami, wedging her small body through the space. “Ash!” she shouted, popping through like a cork and racing toward me.

“Slowly and gently!” Ami commanded, her voice as steely as any general’s. Stella froze, then stepped toward the bed with exaggeratedly slow, prancing steps. Ami had caught Astar by the back of his sweater, swooping him up and carrying him over. She’d bathed and changed clothes, her hair in loosely spilling curls and her eyes bright. “Be careful, both of you. Anyone who jostles Ash and makes him hurt loses all their Feast of Moranu presents.”

The kids exchanged wide-eyed looks and nodded. Ami set Astar next to me on the bed, then lifted Stella up. She stuck her small fingers in her mouth and stared at me. I tried to keep my emotions calm, in case she could sense them.

“Does it hurt?” Astar asked, pointing at my arm.

“A little bit,” I answered, not sure how honest to be.

“You killed the wolf before it could eat us,” Astar informed me.

I glanced at Ami who made a face. No telling them what they saw wasn’t real. It might have been nice to keep them innocent of the more vile aspects of the world a little longer though. “I did,” I agreed, “and now it can never hurt either one of you again.”

“I don’t ever want to be a wolf,” Stella popped her fingers out of her mouth to say. “And you hurt a whole lot. It stinks.” Fat tears began to roll down her face.

Not an easy magic to have, Stella’s gift of empathy. “It’s not a real smell—that’s the magic’s way of showing you emotion. And it feels stronger to you than to him,” Ami consoled the girl, stroking her dark curls. “Ash is very strong and tough. He can withstand more pain than anyone I’ve ever known. Look at him—he’s smiling.”

Stella eyed me tearfully, stuck

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